Air conditioning method



June 4, 1940- c. M. ASHLEY AIR coNDITIoNING METHOD Filed April 6, 1958 NVENTOR. y @9.a ne M. fas/ufr est Patented June 4, 1940 AIR CONDITIONING METHOD Carlyle M. Ashley, Syracuse, N. Y., ass'ignor to Carrier- Corporation, Syracuse, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application April 6, 1938, Serial No. 200,497

7 Claims. (Cl. 236-44) This invention relates to air conditioning.

The particular object of the invention is to provide an improved method of air conditioning an enclosure.

In air conditioning enclosures it is necessary lnot only to control the dry bulb temperature of the air but also to maintain the moisture content of the air within a predetermined range. Under many operating conditions the maintenance of the moisture content of the air/between desired limits necessitates the removal of moisture from air being conditioned for supply to the conditioned enclosure. Such moisture removal may be effected, broadly, in either of two ways, dehumidication and dehydration. Dehumidilcation of the air is accomplished by cooling the air below its dewpoint whereby to precipitate moisture therefrom. This method of reducing the moisture content of the air has the disadvantage that the cooling process and the moisture reduction process are lint egrally related results of the same operation, which fact presents certain control diiilculties. Afurther disadvantage of effecting moisture reduction by dehumidii'lcation, is that the air thus dehumidified generally must be reheated to a substantial degree in order that it may be suitable for supply to a conditioned enclosure. Reduction of the moisture content of air by dehydration possesses neither of these disadvantages of the dehumidifying process. When air is dehydrated, the reduction of the moisture content andthe regulation of the dry bulb temperature may be accomplished independently and under separate control. Further, there is no necessity for reheating dehydrated air, `since the dehydration process tends to raise the dry bulb temperature by release of the latent heat'of vaporization of the moisture removed from the air. Furthermore, dehumidiflcation usually requires the use of .a relatively great amount of articial refrigeration in order to maintain the dewpoint of the conditioned air at a suiciently low value. However, when dehydration is employed 'for controlling the moisture content of conditioned air, much less artificial refrigeration is required, and very frequently this may be dispensed with entirely.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an` improved method of conditioning air in which the temperature and humidity of the air are separately controlled, and in which rthe moisture content of the air being conditioned is reduced by dehydration. q

It is another object of the invention to provide a method of conditioning air in which the air to be conditioned is divided into two main streams, one of these streams being subjected primarily to the action of a dehydrating agent and the other of the streams being subjected primarily l tothe action o'f a cooling medium, the streams 5 being reunited after such treatment to form a nal mixture having desired characteristics of temperature and humidity and. being suitable for direct introduction into an enclosure to be conditioned. l

It is another object of the invention to provide an air conditioning system in which the air to be conditioned is routed in two main streams, one of which is subjected primarily to the actionof a dehydrating agent, and thel other of which streams is subjected primarily to the action of a cooling medium, at least one of said streams being formed of outdoor air and return air from the conditioned enclosure.

A feature of the invention resides'in circulating 20 of said streams comprising return air and/or outdoor air, the character of the air forming each of said streams being regulated and controlled in` accordance with changes in the .condition o'f outdoor air.-

Another feature of the invention resides in conditioning two streams of air, one of said streams being conditioned primarily as to moisture content, `the other of said streams being conditioned primarily aslto dry bulb temperature, mixing said streams, supplying the resultant mixture to an enclosure to be conditioned, and controlling the proportions of air from said diierent streams in said mixture in accordance with changes in atmospheric conditions 'in theconditioned enclosure. l V 40 Other objects and feature of the invention will be more apparent from. the following description to be read in connection withthe accompanying l. drawing which diagrammatically illustratesone tl further description of this feature is deemed readapted to communicate with casing section 6 through branch I2a and to communicate with casing section 1 through branch I2b. There is provided a suitable duct I3 leading to the outdoor atmosphere and connecting to the branch duct I2a through a branch I3a and connecting to the branch duct I2b through branch I3b. If desired, of course, branches I3a and I3b might be connected directly to casing sections 6 and 1 rather` than to the branch ducts I2a and I2b. By means of the ducts I2 and I3 and their branches, eachy casing section .is adapted to receive air from the outdoor atmosphere and air withdrawn from the enclosure.

Duct section I2a is provided with dampers Ida and the duct section I3a is provided with dampers I5a. Dampers I4a and I5a are differentially connected so that when dampers Ita.' are opened more widely, dampers ISa will be correspondingly closed and vice-versa, thus to control the proportions of return air and outdoor air supplied to the casing section 6. The dampers Ila and I5a are preferably controlled in accordance with changes in the condition of the entering outdoor air, as reflected, forexample, `by a wet bulb thermostat or hygrostat I6 positioned in the duct I3. The dampers are so arranged that when the outdoor wet bulb temperature rises, the dampers I5a close somewhat and the dampers I 4a correspondingly openl wider. When the outdoor wet bulb temperature drops, the dampers I5a are opened more widely and the dampers I4a vare correspondingly closed. When the outdoor wet bulb temperature exceeds a predetermined value, the dampers I 5a are closed entirely, except that there is preferably provided'a damper stop or an auxiliary damper adapted to pass a certain minimum amount of fresh air into casing section 6 at all times. Since such arrangements are well known and understood by those skilled in the art, no

' quired here.

Similarly, duct section I2b is provided with 'dampers Mb and duct section I3b is provided with dampers I 5b. As in the case, of the corresponding dampers serving section 6, the dampers I4b and I5b are differentially connected, and are adjusted in accordance with changes in the condition of the outdoor air admitted-through duct I3. As shown, a dry bulb thermostat I1 controls the positions of dampers I4b` and I5b. When the dry vbulb temperature of the outdoor air is below a predetermined limit, the dampers ISb are opened and the dampers Hb are closed. When the dry bulb temperature of the entering outdoor air rises, the dampers I5b are closed somewhat and the dampers Mb are correspondingly opened wider, reverse action of the dampers taking place when the outdoor dry bulb temperature falls.. When the dry bulb temperature of the outdoor air rises above a predetermined maximum, the dampers lib Will close entirely and the dampers Mb will be wide open. As in the case of the dampers I5a, duct section I3b may be provided, if desired, with means for passing a certain minimum amount of outdoor air at all times. As will be understood, means for always admitting a predetermined amount of outdoor air may be associated with either or both of casing sections 6 and 1.

The conditioner section 6 is provided with a dehydratorgenerally designated I8. The dehydrator may be of any well-known type and. may utilize either a liquid absorber such as lithium chloride or a solid adscrber Such as silica gel.

Since this apparatus does not, per se, form a part of the invention, and since various types of such apparatus are well-known and understood bythose skilled in theart, no further description of the dehydrator I8 is deemed required here. 5

It is to be understood that suitable provision is made for the regeneration of the dehydrating agent in accordance with conventional practice, and also that the dehydrator is controlled in any well-known manner to regulate desrably the moisture content of the air delivered from the dehydrator I8. Thus, for example, if the dehydrating apparatus employs a liquid dehydrating agent such as lithium chloride, which is regenerated in a suitable regenerator, the supply of fluid to the regenerator may beV controlled in accordance with the density of the liquid which contacts with air in the dehydrator I8 so that the regenerating action will be controlled to provide a constant density of the liquid which contacts theair.

As an incident to the dehydration process, there is usually a substantial rise in the dry bulb temperature of thev conditioned air. This rise in the sensible heat of the air is due tothe release of the latent heat of vaporization of the moisture removed from the air. To counteract this tendency of the dry bulb temperature of the'dehydrated air to rise, there may be provided a cooling means such as coil I9 for cooling the air. Coil I9 is preferably provided with any lwelllknown type of extended surface such as plate or spiral finning, to increase the heat exchange capacity thereof. The cooling medium supplied to the coils I9 may comprise, for example, cold Water drawn from some suitablesource, such as a deep well or a city water main. Since the coils I9 remove sensible heat only from the air, and since the dry bulb temperature of the dehydrated air is relatively high, cold water drawn from such non-refrigerated sources is quite suiiicient to provide the desired cooling. To control the leaving dry `bulb temperature of the dehydrated air, there is preferably provided a valve 20 for controlling the supply of cooling medium to the coil I9', the valve 20 being under thev control of a thermostat 2| located in the path of the air leaving casing section 6. While the ycooling coils I9 are provided for somewhat reducing the dry bulb temperature of the dehydrated air, it is to be understood that these coils may be dispensed with, if desired, and that the main function of casing section 6 is to effect the dehydration of the air passing therethrough, by operation of the ldehydrator I8. I

The primary function of the casing section 1 is to effect reduction of the dry bulb temperature of the air circulating therethrough. Accordingly, casing section 1 is provided with cooling means such as cooling coils 22 suitably supplied with refrigerant, the circulation of which is controlled as by valve 23. Cooling medium of any desired type may be supplied to the coils 22. In most applications the temperature of water drawn from a well, an evaporative cooling tower, or from a city main 'will generally be sufficiently low so that there is no necessity for utilizing artificial refrigeration, but it is to be understood that if such supply is not adequate to provide the required cooling, then the cooling medium circulated through coils 22 may be cooled by or comprise the circulating medium of an artificial refrigerating'system.

The valve 23, controlling the supply of cooling medium to the coils 22, is preferably under the control of 'dry bulb thermostat 2l, which may be located in return air duct I2 or in the path of air leaving the-coils 22. It is to be understood that control of the cooling effect exerted upon airA passing through casing ysection 1 may be effected in other ways Without departing from the spirit of theinvention. Thus, for example, thermostat 24 might be utilized to control the temperature of w'ater circulated through the coil,

as by use of well-known mixing valves; or if direct expansion of refrigerant is `used for cooling, an expansion valve or a back pressure valve may be suitably controlled by thermostat 24 to provide desired cooling effect.

5 Casing section 6 is provided with dampers 25 and casing section `1` is provided with dampers 26. Dampers 25 and `26 are differentially connected so that as one setof dampers opens more widely, the other correspondingly closes, and vice- 3 versa. These dampers control the relative pro portions of air drawn `from sections 6 and 1 which `are supplied to the conditioned enclosureby'fan 9. The dampers25 and 26 are preferably` adjusted automatically in response `to. changes in `atmospheric conditions in the conditionedl enclosure. These may be reflected, for example, by a wet bulb thermostat or hygrostat 21 located inreturnduct |2,\the hygrostat 21 controlling the relative positions of thedampers 25 and 26. Thus, when'there is too high a wet bulb temperature prevailing in the enclosure, the wet bulb thermostat or hygrostat 21 will operate to open the dampers 25 more widely and to correspondingly close dampers 26, thus to admit to the enclosure a greater proportion of air having a low moisture content. When the wet bulb temperature in the enclosure (and hence in duct l2) falls, the dampers 25 will be somewhat closed and the dampers 26 correspondingly open wider, D thus to supply to the enclosure a smaller proportion of air having a low moisture content. In this way, the desired humidity is maintained in the enclosure. The desired dry bulb temperature is maintained by thermostat 2l. Accordingly, desired atmospheric conditions are maintained within the conditioned enclosure.

Since many changes may be made in the in vention without departing from its scope, it is intended that all matter contained in the above D description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense, applicant limiting him- -self only as indicated in the appended claims.

I claim:

5 1. The method of air conditioning an enclosure which `consists in routing in a first path air withdrawn from said enclosure and` air intaken from the outdoor atmosphere in desired proportions, circulating in a second path air o withdrawn` fromv said enclosure and air intaken from the outdoor atmosphere in desired proportions, controlling the proportions'of return air and outdoor air supplied to one of said paths in accordance vwith one psychrometric characteristic of the outdoor atmosphere, controlling the proportions of outdoor and return air supplied to said other path in accordance with changes in another psychrometric character- 0 istic of the outdoor atmosphere, dehydrating air supplied to one of said paths, abstracting heat from air supplied to said other path by circulating a cooling medium in heat exchange relation with said air, supplying to said enclosure air from both of said paths, and controlling the proportions of air drawn lfrom the different paths for supply to said enclosure.

2. The method of air conditioning an enclosure which consists in withdrawing air from the enclosure, circulating a portion of said withdrawn air through a. rst path, circulating another portion of said withdrawn air through a second path, supplying outdoor air to said first path to augment said withdrawn air, supplying outdoor air to said second path. to augment said withdrawn air, controlling the proportions of withdrawn air and outdoor-air circulated in said rst path in accordance with changes in the wet bulb temperature of the outdoor atmosphere, controlling the proportions of the withdrawn air and outdoor air circulated in said second path in accordance with variations in the dry bulb temperature of thel outdoor atmosphere, subjecting air circulated in said rst path to the action of a dehydrating agent, subjecting air circulated in said second path to the action of a cooling medium, supplying to said enclosure air from both of said paths and controlling the proportions of air drawn from the diierent paths forsupply to said enclosure.

3. The method of air conditioning `an enclosure which consists in withdrawing` air from the enclosure, circulating aportion ofsaid withdrawn air through a first path, circulating another portion of said withdrawn air through a second path, supplying outdoor air to said rst path to augment said withdrawn air, supplying outdoor air to said, second path to augment said Withdrawn air, controlling the proportions of withdrawn air and outdoor air circulated in said iirst path in accordance with changes in the wet bulb temperature of the outdoor atmosphere, controlling the proportions of the withdrawn air and outdoor air circulated in said second path in accor-dance with variations in the dry bulb temperature of the outdoor atmosphere, subjecting air circulated in said rst path to the action of a dehydrating agent, subjecting air circulated in said second path to the action of a cooling medium, supplying to said enclosure air from both of said paths, and controlling thev proportions of air drawn from the different paths for supply to said enclosure in accordance with changes in the wet bulb temperature of said enclosure.

4. The method of air conditioning an enclosure which consists in withdrawing air from the enclosure, circulating a portion of said withdrawn air through a first path, circulating another portion of said withdrawn air through a second path, supplying outdoor air to said rst path. to `augment said withdrawn air, supplying outdoor air to said second path to augment said withdrawn air, controlling the proportions of withdrawn air and outdoor air circulated in said first path in accordance with changes in the wet bulb temperature of the outdoor atmosphere, controlling the proportions of the withdrawn air and outdoor air circulated in said second path in accordance with variations in the dry bulb temperature of the outdoor atmosphere, subjecting air circulated in said first path to the action of a dehydrating agent, subjecting air circulated in said second path to the action of a cooling medium, supplying to said enclosure air from both of said paths and controlling the proportions of air drawn from the diierent paths for supply to said enclosure in accordance with changes in the wet bulb temperature of said enclosure and controlling the cooling of iso` air circulated in said second path in accordance with changes in the dry bulb temperature of the atmosphere in said enclosure.

5. The method of air conditioning an enclosure which consists in routing in a first path air withdrawn from said enclosure and air intakcn from the outdoor atmosphere in desired proportions, circulating in a second path air withdrawn from said enclosure and air intaken from the outdoor atmosphere in desired proportions, controlling the proportions of return air and outdoor air supplied to one of said paths in accordance with one psychrometrlc characteristic of the outdoor atmosphere, controlling the proportions of outdoor and return air supplied to said other path in accordance with changes'in another psyclirometric characteristic of the outdoor atmosphere, dehydrating air supplied to one of said paths, abstracting heat from air supplied to said other path by circulating a cooling medium in heat exchange relation with said air, and supplying to said enclosure air from both of said paths.

6. The method of air conditioning an enclosure which consists in withdrawing air from the enclosure, circulating a portion of said withdrawn air through a first path, circulating another portion of said withdrawn air through a second path, supplying outdoor air to said rst path to augment said withdrawn air, supplying outdoor air to said second path to augment said withdrawn air, controlling the proportions of withdrawn air and outdoor air circulated in said rst path in accordance with changes in the Y wet bulb temperature of the outdoor atmosphere, controlling'the proportions of the withdrawn air and outdoor air circulated in said second path in accordance with `variations in the dry bulb temperature of the outdoor atmosphere, subjecting air circulated in said i'lrst path to the action of a dehydrating agent, subjecting air circulated in said second path to the action of a cooling medium, and supplying to said enclosure air from both of said paths.

7. The method of air conditioning. an enclosure which consists in routing in a first path air withdrawn from said enclosure andv air intaken from the outdoor atmosphere in desired proportions, circulating in a second path air l withdrawn from said enclosure and air intaken from the outdoor atmosphere in desired proportions, controlling the proportions of return air and outdoor air supplied to one of said paths in accordance with one psychrometric characteristic of the outdoor atmosphere,lcontrolling the proportions of outdoor and return air supplied to said other path in accordance with changes in another psychrometric characteristic of the outdoor atmosphere, removing moisture .from air supplied to one of said paths, abstracting heat from air supplied to said other path by circulating a cooling medium in heat exchange relation with said air, and supplying to said enclosure air from both of said paths.

CARLYLE M. ASHLEY. 

